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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

March 19, 2014 China Hutch Makeover Part 1

At the end of January I wrote about finding a china hutch. I love it so much that if I wasn't already married I'd be marrying it. I'm nearing the completion and thought I would share how far it's come.

How many times did mother tell you to keep your shoes off the furniture!

I found the hutch on Craigslist. A local consignment shop posts pictures of things they have on sale. The owner of the shop told me the history of it belonging to a little old lady and was a much loved piece in her family. The hutch is made of maple. I was not fond of the color and Jace said it looked like 70's wood paneling. It was still hard to sand because I was afraid I was going to make a mistake and ruin it. In a fit of what I felt was complete lunacy I sanded most of it but left some unsanded.

I had been reading about a lot of projects done with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and it sounded marvelous! I looked up a local distributor and Jace and I took a trip to the next town. We were quite blown away by the cost. In fact we left the store laughing. $38.95 for a quart of paint and $28.95 for the wax. $67.90. Holy Moly! I don't even remember the cost of the brush. This was just too expensive even if it was a miracle in a can. (I still shake my head when I think back and know how relatively cheap it is to make your own chalk paint.)

I came home dejected and settled on going with Plan B, regular paint. Then I saw a recipe for making your own chalk paint. This sounded more reasonable, but I didn't have plaster of Paris. Jace said we did, or something that was comparable. It was pottery plaster. We had gotten it at Hobby Lobby for a project for homeschool.

I also had a brand new gallon of Olympic interior paint in Antique white. I always have this paint since it is the color on my living room, kitchen, and hallway walls, although, I'm giving serious thought to going greige. I mixed the pottery plaster and paint in a 1 to 3 ratio. I did not have furniture wax but I wanted a more durable tough coating. I have an 8 year old with a skateboard. I did have a can of polyerethane on hand. So far this makeover is costing me nothing!

Painting went very quickly. I noticed this stuff dries fast! I finished all the painting in one day.

I asked my very strong and manly husband to help me lift the hutch back up. I paid him with a kiss. I'm getting excited at this point because I can really see the hutch turning out the way I imagined.

Just a little more paint and it's done! At this point I had started giving it a light sanding with 220 grit paper. Only a couple of swipes and it had a smooth velvet finish. I did not do a lot of distressing because I'm not experienced with it yet. I didn't want to overdo it. I began painting on one coat of the polyurethane. From the things I read about the wax I don't think what I did took any more time than if I had used a wax finish.

I stored the left over paint in a jar and it kept well overnight. I'm planning on using it on a small table. This paint really does go a long way.

I reached my goal of being able to place my first plate for display. I love that the shelves have built in tracks for displaying plates.

I found this plate at my local grocery store a couple of weeks ago. I bought the last one. I think it is so appropriate for life here on the one acre homestead.

This is where I ended last night. This piece is such an inspiration. Jace and I were up at midnight having a decorating explosion of ideas for other areas of the house. I hope you can join me for the completion of this project.